an explosive, adventurous Memorial Day

[flammifera]

Sam usually yowls and whines a lot in the mornings, firstly to make me get up and feed her and secondly because I'm in too much of a rush to pet her enough. This morning, however, I think I made more noise than she did; there was a lot of moaning and groaning this morning. Taking a shower especially, but also movement in general, was rather

Comments

[star_ash]

I completely concur with your opinions on X-Men--very disappointing. Each of the plots had the potential to be emotionally effective, but it all came out jumbled. Also, using the cure against Magneto should not be a cheering moment, if only because accepting the use of the cure as a weapon goes against the values the good mutants are supposed to be standing for. It's the equivalent of applauding the use of chemical weapons.

[tirerim]

I suspect the cheers were not for Magneto's defeat, but rather for the X-Men's success - the sudden appearance of Beast at the last instant in particular. And the use of the cure as a weapon was clearly something that they didn't want to do, but that needed to be done to save the day.

[flammifera]

I was thankful that within the movie itself, the X-Men seemed sufficiently conflicted (within the time constraints of an action movie) about using the cure as a weapon -- they were locked in a desperate struggle, but they were reluctant to take such a drastic step.

It was just the audience's reaction that bothered me!

(And, btw, I'm not completely convinced that the mutant cure is analogous to chemical weapons -- I get that Magneto's ability to manipulate metal is essential to who he is, but he is still alive at the end. As I hope you know, I'm not trying to trivialize his 'cure', I just couldn't help arguing. ;)

[flammifera]

Oh. Er...possibly a good point. ;)

Do audiences usually cheer when the good guys triumph? Perhaps it's a tribute to X3 that the audience was worried enough that they felt spontaneous and surprised excitement when the X-Men prevail, but there weren't any cheers when Wolverine stabbed Jean Grey and, imho, the Beast stabbing Magneto was also a bittersweet, narrow victory.

As I mentioned to star_ash above, it's only the audience's reaction (not the X-Men's) that I'm taking issue with.

[star_ash]

What would be the fun of a things-blow-up action movie if you couldn't argue about its morality? ;-)

I agree that the most disconcerting part is the fault of the audience, not directly of the movie itself. The analogy with chemical weapons is rather loose (though I suspect that if you asked Magneto he would rather die than be stripped of his powers for good). I wasn't trying to say that the cure is just as bad as nerve gas, just trying to make the point that at least for the mutants the cure falls into the category of weapons that are inhumane enough to be worse than than just another way to maim or kill, the sort of thing one can imagine being banned by international agreements.

[flammifera]

Heh. OK, good -- clearly you, as a fellow Swattie, love debating tiny details. ;)

Thanks for the clarification, and I think I would agree with you that the cure is regarded by the mutants as inhumane. That sort of raises another question -- faced with a life-or-death struggle, like the fight between Beast/Wolverine and Magneto seemed to be escalating towards, was it 'better' to resolve that by an inhumane but non-lethal weapon, or something lethal? (I suppose, to be honest, we can't be sure Magneto intended to kill either of his opponents, but he seemed to become more ruthless in this movie.)

though I suspect that if you asked Magneto he would rather die than be stripped of his powers for good

To make it clear how shallow I am...that reminds me of House and his leg. The episode 'Three Stories' certainly indicates that he was willing to risk death for the chance of a full recovery.